The Teacher
by mycookiegirl
Summary: Ponyboy Curtis didn't have a problem with his oldest brother. Well, that was until Darry decided to get a job at his school.
1. Chapter 1

**The Teacher**

 **I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)**

How would you feel if your own brother, never mind your guardian, was coming to work at _your_ school?

I sure was happy for Darry when his boss offered to pay for his college fees. I don't know why he did – seems a little suspicious to me – but not one of us complained. If Darry went through college, he'd get a decent job, which meant Soda and I would have an even better chance of being able to stay with him. Plus, the state would respect his status a lot more; he'd be more than just a roofer in their eyes.

Also, since the college was so close by, Darry had no problem with having to be worried about me and Soda; I went to school and Soda worked, and when we got home we stayed right where we were supposed to. Darry's boss still paid him, which again was suspicious (though we didn't really care), so we had no problem with the bills, and Soda working at the DX helped too.

Soda and me were so shocked however, when Darry decided not to go down the athletic route. Instead, he decided he wanted to be a teacher! And even worse, there were a lot of free teaching spaces in my school, so of course he decided to choose _mine_!

"You know, I bet if ya'll wait just a few more weeks, you'll be able to get a job in an even _better_ school," I claimed, sitting on my oldest brother's bed. He was currently gathering all of the papers he'd need for tomorrow. _One more day_!

Darry sighed. "Ponyboy, we've been through this twenty times today. We _can't_ wait a few more weeks; my boss stopped paying me yesterday so if we wait a few more weeks the state will know somethin's goin' on," he explained slowly, like I couldn't understand him. I groaned and flopped back onto his bed, crossing my arms and pouting. My big brother chuckled as he finished packing his stuff together.

"He's just worried you're gonna embarrass 'im," Sodapop giggled from the doorway. I scowled and when Darry turned around I flipped my middle brother off. Sodapop giggled again, and then made a position where he looked like he was ready to charge.

I didn't leap off the bed fast enough. Sodapop tackled me and had me on the ground in a second, tickling me under my armpits. I tried not to laugh but eventually gave in, and in less than two minutes I was howling my head off and hollering Uncle at the top of my lungs.

"C'mon you two, I need to do some stuff before bed. Go play in the living room," Darry ordered, dragging Soda off of me and then helping me up. I dusted my shirt and jeans and leapt right back onto Darry's bed, lying down and pulling a cute face at him. My big brother sighed.

Sodapop looked as if he was considering disobeying Darry, but I guess the dark circles under our oldest brother's eyes put him off, because he just patted Darry's back and then left the room. Darry sat down next to me after a little bit, grabbing me around the waist and sitting me so I was facing him.

"We need to spend some quality time together pretty soon, little man," he stated, ruffling my hair. I nodded.

"Certainly. Do you know if I'm in your class yet?" I asked, silently hoping that I wasn't. How embarrassing what it be if I was?!

"Nope," Darry shook his head. "I have a meeting with the principal at 7:30 tomorrow morning. He's gonna give me my schedule and everything and give me time to set up and talk with some of the other teachers."

I nodded, but couldn't get rid of the nervous feeling in my stomach. Darry as my teacher…

Would he pick on me to answer all the questions to test my knowledge? If I got a question wrong, would he holler at me like he does when I don't get something right on my homework? Would he embarrass me if I talked back to him?

All these thoughts rushed through my head, and I couldn't help but squirm just thinking about them. Darry patted me on the head, oblivious to what I was thinking. I couldn't address these worries to him; I didn't need my big brother getting any ideas.

"Go wash up for bed; you look tired," Darry said gently, getting up and helping me off his mattress. I did as he'd said; I'd usually protest at going to bed at 9, but I felt a bit sick and my head was hurting a little bit.

I guess Soda had nothing better to do because he came in and sat next to me while I got comfortable. He rubbed my back for a little while and I eventually drifted off to sleep, though Soda had managed to take away all the worry I had about the next day. Too bad the next day was still gonna happen.

 **XXX**

My alarm went off at 6 am, waking me up from my peaceful slumber. I immediately got a queasy feeling from knowing that I was gonna start my job in an hour and thirty minutes, but I swallowed and it went away, for a little bit anyway.

I groaned when I took out the suit from my closet. Suits just ain't my thing – greasers never wear suits, and whenever I wear one I feel like a soc. The only times I've really worn a suit in my adulthood is when I attended my parents funeral and also when the state do a house check. Mom used to make me, Soda and Pony wear a suit every Sunday for church, and not one of us liked it.

But still, I'm a teacher now, and suits are what teachers wear. I sighed and got dressed, checking myself in the mirror once I was done. It made me look more fat than muscular, the way the tight shirt was tucked into my tan pants. I had to look away for a minute; tan pants are a must for a soc. It was _disgusting_.

Picking up the case with all my paperwork in, I walked out to the kitchen and got started on breakfast. We were out of chocolate cake, so I settled on making some eggs for the boys. They'd sure be grouchy when I got them up at 6:30, but that was there problem unfortunately.

My own appetite wasn't big, but I didn't want to be half asleep while talking to the principal, so I ate some cereal and drank two cups of coffee before going to wake my little brothers up. Soda and Pony looked so peaceful, and I almost felt bad, but if I didn't wake them up now then they'd probably oversleep. Imagine teaching your own kid brother and seeing him not turn up in your class?

I wondered if I would be teaching Ponyboy. I'm sure he wouldn't be too happy with the idea, but I thought it'd be good as I'd be able to keep more of an eye on him. Not that I don't trust my little brother; I just know that if anybody was mean to him I'd be able to see it and put a stop to it. Same thing reversed, though I couldn't imagine my baby brother ever having the heart to be mean to somebody…

"Rise and shine!" I shouted. Their eyes shot open in a flash, and I couldn't help but laugh. Soda chuckled, not offended, but Ponyboy glared up at me.

"It's too early," he claimed, making to lie back down. I grabbed his arm and pulled him from under the covers so he was sitting on my knees. My little brother groaned, pouting at the ceiling. "I'm not a little kid."

"You sure about that?" I questioned, tickling him under his chin. He frowned and smacked my arm lightly, sliding off my lap to get in the shower. I shook my head and turned to Sodapop, who grinned at me before hopping up to get some breakfast.

By 7:15 we were all ready to go. Soda and Pony were gonna go to Two-Bit's house for a little bit before school and work. I ruffled their hair and we parted our ways; me getting in the truck and heading off to work while they both loped over to Two-Bit's house. Mrs Mathews had offered to give Soda a ride to work and I already knew that Two-Bit and Pony were gonna be travelling together in the car, so I had no worries about them getting to their destinations on time.

The sky was still dark when I arrived at the high school. There were a few cars and trucks in the parking lot, most of them of better quality than mine. I bit my lip; hopefully none of the other teachers would judge.

I approached the doors and nervously ran a hand through my hair. I hadn't greased it as I knew it wouldn't be very formal, and the rich kids would no doubt complain to their parents for having a greaser as a teacher. If they knew Ponyboy then they'd know me anyway, but I wasn't prepared to make it obvious.

"Ah, Mr Curtis, please have a seat," the principal, Mr Ryans, said to me when I opened the door to his office. I smiled and sat down in the chair in-front of his desk, politely declining when he offered me a cigar. "All set for today?" he asked, nodding towards my case. I nodded, placing it on the desk and getting out some paperwork that he needed to look at.

Once Mr Ryans checked over my paperwork, the man pulled out more papers for me. "This here's your schedule," he pointed to a large piece of paper, and placed it in a red folder. "In this folder is all your students. It has their names and their school pictures, and what grade they're in," he explained. "I'd recommend pinning up your schedule; so you don't have to go through papers and papers to find it." He laughed, dropping a pin inside the folder.

I grabbed the folder and started searching for Ponyboy's grade. Mr Ryans hadn't told me if I was teaching the academic students for math, so I knew I'd have to see for myself. And when I got to Ponyboy's grade, his name was written on the paper. I was teaching my baby brother after all.

"I do hope you enjoy your time teaching here, Mr Curtis," Mr Ryans stated. "Hopefully you'll remain with us for a long time, if you don't change your mind and go somewhere else. After you finish setting up, there's coffee in the teacher's lounge, and I'm sure the teachers will be glad to meet you," he smiled.

I smiled back and him and nodded, standing up and putting the papers and red folder into my case. "Thank you, sir," I said, and then left and shut the door quietly. Well, today's going to be a fun day, I thought to myself.

 **XXX**

"You've _only_ got cookies for lunch?" I asked Two-Bit in shock. My buddy nodded, gobbling down a chocolate chip cookie as we sat together in the parking lot. I sighed, shaking my head.

"So." Two-Bit gulped down a bite of his cookie. "Do you know if Superdope's your teacher?"

I groaned. "No," I answered gruffly. "Hopefully he'll be teaching you and Steve."

Two-Bit laughed loudly. "Imagine! He'd be smackin' our hands every few minutes to tell us to stop foolin' around. Man oh man, I hope Darry's our teacher!"

" _I hope so too_ ," I thought to myself bitterly. I didn't have a problem with my big brother at all. But my big brother being my teacher…that's a different story.

I got out of the car and slammed the door, startling Two-Bit and causing him to almost choke on his cookie. Laughing I ran off before he could get out of the car to give me a piece of his mind.

The hallway was busy as usual. I spotted Darry walking out of the teachers' lounge (which was strictly forbidden to students) and ran over to him. The nervous feeling was killing me – I _had_ to know if my big brother was teaching me. I had math first lesson anyway…man, Darry's a math teacher!

"Hey Ponyboy," Darry smiled at me. I gulped, but before I could ask him the question, he already answered it for me. "I'm your teacher."

The small grin fell from my face. Just great.

 **XXX**

"Oh my gosh, the new math teacher is _hot_!"

My eyebrows shot up as I heard some of the girls behind me giggling to each other. I seriously hoped they weren't talking about my brother, but there were no new teachers, never mind math ones, apart from Darry.

"What's his name?"

"Mr Curtis."

"Wait, is he related to…"

I turned around and hushed them, telling them to be quiet. They all looked at each other with wide eyes, and the girl who I'm guessing called my brother hot turned her head down in embarrassment. I felt my own cheeks turning red too, but tried to hide it as best I could.

When the bell rang for first period, I considered going to the restroom to hide, but I knew that Darry would probably lecture me to no end once he got home, so I decided to hold my head up high and walked into the classroom without a care in the world. Who am I kidding? Of course I cared!

I didn't expect any different when I saw a lot of the girls who claimed themselves to be popular sitting at the front desks, all fluttering their thick eyelashes at my big brother. That was good though; those girls usually took the back desks so they could mess around, but now those spaces were free which meant Darry couldn't keep a very close eye on me.

Once everybody was seated, I noticed Darry looking around the room. When he set his eyes on me he frowned, but decided not to address the issue yet. Instead he stood up and crossed his arms.

"My name's Mr Curtis," he grinned, ignoring the girls who all exhaled heavily at the sound of his voice. "As ya'll already know, I teach math. I'm new here so I don't know how the system works around here, but I _do_ know that there'll be no messing around in my classroom."

A few of the kids shrunk back slightly, while a lot of the guys, mainly greaser guys, groaned.

"I'm not here to make friends; I'm here to teach. But if you're nice to me, I'll be nice back. But if you're not nice to me, you won't have the most pleasant time, let's put it that way."

"He's cute when he's mad," some girl hissed to her friend.

"He ain't mad; he's just bein' firm," the friend hissed back.

" _Also,_ " Darry said loudly, alerting everybody. Some kids jumped while I chuckled inwardly; that wasn't even the loudest Darry could do, but I knew my brother was loud when he wanted to be.

"I don't tolerate talking while I am; that's just bad manners and makes me feel insulted. And trust me, I don't like being insulted," he shook his head. "And boys," he directed his attention over to some soc boys who were mocking him, which aggravated me slightly. "Don't act like babies. Whatever you act like you'll be treated like."

One of the boys glared at Darry, but once Darry gave him a look he instantly dropped his gaze to the floor and squirmed in his seat slightly. Darry smirked and turned his attention to the whole class again.

"What if I act like I screwed around with your mom?!" some boy shouted. It was Timmy. Everybody gasped, even though they didn't expect any less from Timmy Kacy. He just shouted whatever was on his mind, but he was smart.

Darry raised his eyebrows and I was honestly expecting him to flip out. But he didn't, and instead just smirked at Timmy. "How can you act like you've screwed around with one's mother?" he inquired.

Timmy swallowed and turned red – Darry had caught him out there. "Unless you're my father, but my father's dead, as is my mother. So tell me, young man, if my mother's dead, how could you have possibly screwed around with her?" my brother's voice was calm, but that was usually worse than shouting.

All eyes were on Timmy now, including my own. Timmy sunk down in his seat, looking as if he was about to cry. "But I'll tell you; when people make jokes about my mother, I'm not very nice to them, let's put it that way. See me at the end please."

Everybody turned around to face Darry again once he finished scolding Timmy. _Serves you right_ , I thought to myself, not feeling the least bit sorry for the kid when his lip trembled and he hid his face in his hands. That was _my_ mother he was talking about as well.

"Any other questions?" Darry asked.

"Sir," another boy said, putting his hand up. A few people rolled their eyes; it was Joey. He was my age but acted like a little kid. It wasn't his fault really; his parents just babied him too much.

"Yes?" Darry said, but his tone was softer now. Every teacher I've had has _never_ shouted at Joey; they never have the heart to when he gives them his puppy dog stare.

"If you treated those boys like babies," he pointed to the socs from before. They all sighed at him. "Wouldn't that mean that they wouldn't have to do any work? Babies can't write you know."

Darry chuckled. "Don't worry, they'll still be doin' work like everybody else. I'm sure they'd _love_ to recite the numbers one to ten over and over again while they write lines for me. And if they can't remember how many lines they've written then I'll help 'em remember by making them count them ten times." He smiled.

Everybody's eyes widened, including my own. Our old math teachers had never given us punishments that harsh for misbehaving. Joey however smiled.

"Ah, I get it now," he said seriously. Everybody frowned at Joey.

"Anyway," Darry said with a no nonsense tone. "Now that ya'll know the rules, I'll be glad to get on with my lesson," he smiled. Then he looked at me. "And if you don't believe me when I say there'll be consequences for your actions, just ask my little brother Ponyboy what it's like at home."

Everybody turned around to look at me. A lot of kids had wide eyes, while others were glaring at me. Timmy's glare was the worst though; he looked like he wanted to kill me. Some kids, mainly girls, were smiling as if to say "You're related to him? Could you get him a date with me?" Joey was smiling at me too, but it was a different kind of smile, as if he'd just been told I was the brother of his hero. Just great; I was gonna be the talk of my school. Thanks Darry.

Darry went to the desk and took a sheet of paper, most probably his lesson plan. Then he went to the blackboard and wrote some simple equations.

"Mr Ryans informed me that your old teacher made you take your books home last week," Darry hinted. Everybody sighed and got their books out, except for Timmy and some other kid. "Where are your books, gentlemen?"

"Math class is a waste of time," Timmy spat. I guess any sadness he felt before was gone now; now he just wanted to push my big brother to his limit. And if you know Darry like I do, you know that ain't a good idea.

Darry raised his eyebrows at the kid. "Right." He pressed his lips together, and I knew this meant he was trying to refrain from yelling. "You can just get out then. Go to Mr Ryans and tell him why you won't do math. You see," his voice was getting louder. "I do not appreciate you interrupting my lesson, young man. But that's not a problem, you can just get moved to the lower math class." Timmy looked as if he were about to protest. "I don't _care_ how smart you are; if you're causing me problems then-"

"Mr Curtis," a new voice serenaded through the classroom. We all looked up to see Miss Saunders standing at the doorway, smiling. "Sorry to interrupt, but I'm trying to move my bookcase since Curly Shepard knocked it over, but nobody can lift it up. I though since you were…never mind, but can you still help me?"

She was fluttering her eyelashes slightly, like those girls had been doing a few minutes before. I scowled; my brother was getting hit on by other teachers already? Well that wouldn't do; he was here to teach, not to make friends!

My big brother chuckled slightly and the frown on my forehead deepened. He was enjoying this.

"Of course, Miss Saunders. Everybody copy out these equations into your book and try to get one done," Darry ordered, following Miss Saunders out of the classroom. Joey giggled.

"That's my mom," he grinned at me. My eyes widened and I groaned slightly.

"And my cousin," one of the socs from the 'mocking group' called to me. Great, could my life get any worse?

 **AN: What did you all think of that? I quite like the idea!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)  
I'm so happy a lot of people enjoyed that first chapter! To be honest when I was thinking about this story I only intended for it to be a one-shot but everybody's nice reviews has made me decide to turn it into quite a long story. I hope you all enjoy! :)**

" _As if_ they're goin' back to the classroom to pick up that bookcase! They'll be headin' down to the teachers' lounge and goin' to have a fun time," a greaser boy shouted. Everybody giggled except for myself and Joey.

"No," Joey frowned, lowering his eyebrows. "Teachers only go to the teachers' lounge during recess and lunch break."

I scowled and bit my tongue hard. Why'd Darry have to go get involved in all this?! Though it wasn't his fault; the guys were gonna make jokes anyway. However he could have just politely declined!

The door opened and everybody turned their heads towards their desks. Darry came in and sat down at his own desk, not even looking at any of us. I stared at him for a long minute, trying to see if there was any smeared lipstick on his face, or even a blush on his cheeks. But there was nothing.

"Ponyboy," my brother called. I blinked and everybody's heads shot up. "Why aren't you doing your work?"

I felt my cheeks turning red as some kids whispered to each other. Swallowing, I answered: "I've done it."

"Really?" my big brother asked in surprise. I nodded and he smiled. "Tell me the answer to number one then please. It's quite simple so there's no need to explain your method."

My brother looked proud of me then and I felt bad for getting his hopes up like that. I didn't want to let him down so I scanned over other people's papers quickly, but hardly anybody had done the equation. Darry was getting impatient.

"Ponyboy," he said lowly. "Please answer the question."

"I can't," I sighed. My brother frowned in confusion. "I-I haven't done it," I said softly.

Darry exhaled and leaned back for a moment. Some girls on the front desks were giggling as the shirt showed off some of his muscles as it was so tight. I felt my ears getting hot and put my head down in embarrassment.

"I'd appreciate an honest answer next time, young man. I don't tolerate lying at home and it'll be no different here," he told me calmly. My eyebrows shot up and my immediate response was to answer back; I always answered back at home – it was a bad habit I know – and I just couldn't stop myself at that moment.

"Sorry I wasn't concentrating! You don't havta be all disappointed in me; it was a one-time thing!" I exclaimed, and then quickly placed my hands over my mouth. Darry cocked an eyebrow at me while everybody else was silent.

"How 'bout I make you sit in here for an hour after school and then when we get home you can stay in your room for another hour?" my brother grinned at me. I blinked quickly to stop myself from bawling; _everybody_ was staring at me now. No doubt the kids in my class would share this argument with kids outside of our class. "Alright, let's continue. Let me see…" he checked a piece of paper. "Abigail, what do you have for number one?"

A lot of the kids had gone back to paying attention to Darry, however the kids on either side of me were still staring at me. I gave them each a dirty look and then stared down at me work, wanting to get it done quickly so Darry wouldn't feel the need to embarrass me again.

My big brother was right: the equations were simple. I got them all done rather quickly, deciding to put my hand up to answer one of them so Darry wouldn't be all that disappointed in me. When I answered question four right he smiled at me. "That wasn't so hard was it?" he grinned and winked at me. I smiled nervously and put my head down again.

Darry stood up after all of the questions were answered and erased all of the words on the blackboard. Then he went back to his desk and picked up a blue book, quickly flipped through it and then picked up a pen.

"Answer 'yes sir' or 'present' when I call your names out please," Darry requested. "Daniel Auerbach."

"Present sir."

"Hey," a female voice hissed. My eyebrows were furrowed as I looked up. "You're really _his_ brother?"

Glaring at her I turned around to face the wall. That was until I felt something hit my shoulder blade.

"Joseph Carmichael-Saunders."

"Yes sir, yes sir!"

Turning around sharply I narrowed my eyes at the culprit who had thrown the thing at me. "Read it," she ordered, pointing to a balled up piece of paper on my desk. I frowned but opened it anyway.

 _I would totally screw with your brother._

"Ugh," I said in disgust, glaring up at the girl with such hatred. She grinned wickedly at me.

"For the third time - Ponyboy Curtis!" Darry roared. I gulped. "What are you doing?"

My big brother stormed over to me and snatched the paper right out of my hands. I gasped and tried to get it off him, but he held it away from me and opened it. The girl who had thrown it at me was as white as a sheet.

Darry frowned. "Okay, if I find one more if these explicit notes, all of you will be put on detention." Everybody sighed. "Ponyboy Curtis, are you present?"

"Present," I said quickly. Darry nodded and went back to his desk. He called out everybody else's names and I just sat there biting my fingernails – today didn't seem like it would be a very good day.

"I hope I see both your books on my desk tomorrow, gentlemen," Darry said to Timmy and the other kid who forgot his book. The kid nodded but Timmy just scowled. "If I were you I'd change the attitude," Darry offered. Timmy's scowl just deepened.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Come in," Darry called. In walked Curly Shepard with a playful smirk on his face. Darry sighed. "Yes?"

"Miss Saunders said I had to come in here. Said she couldn't deal with me anymore," Curly explained. He spotted me and waved at me and I just shook my head.

"What did you do, Curly?" Darry asked.

"I dunno, guess she couldn't take a joke."

"She loves jokes," Joey frowned. "Especially ones about the boogeyman." Everybody snickered at that.

"Alright everyone that's enough. Curly, go sit at the…actually there's a spare desk over there." Darry pointed to a lone desk in the corner. Curly frowned. "Now please."

Darry had never spoken to Curly like that. Sure, we didn't have a problem with the Shepard's, but if Curly got a little rowdy in our house, Darry would tell him in no uncertain terms to get out, and if Curly wouldn't do as he was told then Darry would have no problem in shoving him out. When Curly and me played chicken, Darry was ready to go down there and beat the living snot outta Curly. And he was never particularly guest-friendly when Curly visited.

I guess being a teacher changed more stuff than I thought.

Curly stared at Darry for a long moment, only doing as he was told when Darry tilted his head and raised his eyebrows at him. Darry sure was intimidating, even to the Shepard's, who were supposed to fear nobody. Nobody at all.

"Before we actually start any work, why don't we all introduce ourselves? You can know me better, and I can get to know ya'll better," Darry grinned, looking at me. I frowned; did my big brother really have it out for me?

 **XXX**

"So you two are twins? Bonnie and Johnny?" I asked the boy and girl in-front of me. They both frowned.

"No, no," the girl, Bonnie, exclaimed. " _Quadruplets_ ," she corrected. "Our brothers, Lonnie and Donnie, are in the lower math classes for our grade."

"Right," I sighed. I already had a headache. It was close to lunch and I already had a headache. How would I be able to cope with the rest of the day?

"We've got two older sisters called Sandy and Candy – _they're_ twins," Johnny said. I frowned. "And our little brother's called Austin – he's by himself. But our momma's expectin' twins: she said if it's a boy and a girl she'll call them Boris and Doris, and if it's a girl and a girl she'll call them…"

I had zoned out by then. To be honest I think I was doing well with two kid brothers – I certainly wouldn't be able to cope with seven, and soon to be nine kids! I wondered if Bonnie and Johnny's mom and dad loved all of their kids the same. I know my mom and dad loved all of us the same, even if we were a pain most of the time. Well, me and Soda specifically. Pony was the baby and he was always quiet – he was never a bother.

I didn't really mean to embarrass him today. But he embarrassed me when he started mouthin' off to me in-front of all those kids – like I said to him: I won't put up with it at home and it won't be no different in school.

Will things really be different as a teacher? Will my baby brother still look at me the same way that he always has done?

The bell rang and I was glad to finally get rid of the class. I was feeling fairly tired now, and I knew I'd probably be exhausted by the time work ended. Being a teacher was hard. I wasn't expecting it to be this hard to be honest.

"Mr Curtis," a familiar voice said. I looked up and saw Miss Saunders standing at the doorway. She offered a kind smile to me, and I smiled back at her. It would be impolite not to. Besides, she seemed like a nice person.

"Please call me Darrel," I grinned, standing up. She chuckled.

"Then please call me Annette. Would you like to join me for lunch? Nobody sat with me on the first day _I_ joined the school," she admitted. I cocked an eyebrow at her.

"I find that hard to believe," I muttered. She heard it and I swear she blushed slightly.

We walked down the hallway together. It was quite loud but not as loud as it had been before, when the bell had rang. I guess kids were really desperate to eat. Or maybe they just wanted to get out of lessons. No, they probably needed to get out of lessons; I know how restless kids can get. Hell, Soda can't stay still even in work. But he is still a kid.

"How are you finding the school?" Annette asked me, picking up a piece of paper off the floor and chucking it in a nearby trashcan.

"It's alright, yeah. First day working at a school actually. It's not too bad. The school's nice and big," I commented. Annette nodded.

"Sure is. Though that's not always a good thing. Joey sometimes wanders off and it's hard to keep up with him."

"Joey. Oh, is Joey your son?" I asked her. She nodded, smiling proudly. "Of course, he was talking about you before about how you _love_ jokes about the boogeyman," I laughed. She laughed and shook her head.

"My Joey. He was talking about you in English; he thinks your cool and you remind him of Superman," she chuckled. I laughed but felt my cheeks heat up a bit; kids were already talking about me? "It's good to know he's bein' taught by someone he likes. I'd love to teach him every subject just to keep 'im close to me, but I just can't do that," she sighed.

I felt a little uncomfortable then. I was quite protective of Pony sure, and you could go as far to say I'm 'overprotective' in some ways, but I didn't want to watch his every move. His literal every move. I couldn't blame him if he got creeped out to be honest.

"Oh, I hope you don't think I'm strange. I just don't want Joey being exposed to anything…anything that he wouldn't be able to handle, you know? I think that's sort of why I'm looking for a new partner: for the benefit of Joey as well as myself."

Partner…partner?! "You're looking for a partner?" I asked. I wondered what happened to her other one, that's all.

Annette sighed sadly. "Joey…he's illegitimate. Me and his father were never married. My mom wanted to stick me in one of those homes, ya know the asylums? And her and my dad wanted to take _my_ Joey away. They still do. I begged ma husband to marry me, but he never wanted it. Last year we just parted our ways…but ma mom and dad are still after my little boy."

Just like the state were after Sodapop and Ponyboy – my boys. I'd never say that to them, in case they thought I was trying to replace dad – but they were mine now.

"However, _I_ need to move on as well. Me and Joey do everything together, and my sister visits every week with her son and daughter, but I want somebody who'll…who'll love me like a wife. To treat me well. I'm not sayin' he has to be my main priority – that'd be pretty hypocritical since Joey's _my_ main priority – but, he'll be there for me when I need him most," Annette smiled. She looked at me then, and I looked right back at her.

She had blonde hair with noticeable gray roots at the top of her head, though she couldn't have been much older than me. Her eyes reminded me of Pony's, though his were grayer than hers and hers were greener than his. She had a fair amount of freckles on her light skin as well.

To be honest if I was still in high school, I problem wouldn't go for a chick like her. She was thin but her breasts weren't anything to brag about – not that I think like that now! Trust me, I don't know what went through my head as a teenager. And I guess she wouldn't be classed as anything special to other guys' minds. But I don't know…she just seemed nicer than the other teachers in the school. Plus she had a kind personality.

Not that I'm looking to settle sown with anybody – never mind a person who I've just met and who I work with! The boys come first.

Two loud, familiar voices snapped me out of my thoughts.

"I saw her first!"

"No I saw her first!"

"Go back to Evie, Stevie."

"Go back to Mickey, weirdo."

"That doesn't even rhyme."

"Shut up!"

I turned my head to see Steve and Two-Bit having a rather childish argument. Except they looked as if they were about to fight. I know the rule about blowin' off steam, but they couldn't start in the middle of school.

"Boys," I called. Both looked in my direction. "Stop that."

"But he's bein' mean," Two-Bit complained childishly, accusing pointing at Steve. Steve grabbed his finger and bent it backwards.

"Steve, stop that now," I ordered with authority in my voice. I usually only used that voice with Ponyboy - and Sodapop when he needed it.

Steve let go of Two-Bit's finger and Two-Bit immediately put his finger in his mouth. I shook my head at him and then focused back on Steve who was giving me a funny look.

"Don't talk to me like that," he said gruffly. I raised my eyebrows at him, and Annette gave us both a confused look.

"What did you just say?" I asked him calmly. I didn't need to get angry just yet. Though I really wanted to lift him upside-down. Steve glared at me.

"I said: _don't_ talk to me like that," he growled. I nodded.

"Right," I said. Two-Bit was staring at us with questioning eyes, and Annette looked like she wanted to say something to Steve but was a bit scared to. "Steve, you'd better change that attitude, mister." Wow, I'd never spoken to the gang like that. Ponyboy maybe, but none of the others. Not even Sodapop. They didn't need to be talked to like little kids…most of the time.

Steve stopped glaring at me then. Instead his eyes held confusion with a hint of sadness, and the way his cheeks were a bit pink showed me that I'd obviously humiliated him. Good, I thought to myself. He was humiliating Ponyboy all the time – maybe he needed some humiliating.

"Now, please go down to the cafeteria," I said to both boys in-front of me. Two-Bit cracked a grin at me but Steve swallowed. I wasn't usually that bossy with them, and if I wanted them to do something and they wouldn't I'd give them a smack on the back of the head. But I couldn't do that here. I could only use words.

And yelling hardly ever worked with Steve Randle. In-fact, it didn't really help with anything. I'm glad I've learnt to control my temper around Ponyboy now too.

"C'mon," Steve said to Two-Bit lowly, grabbing our friend by his shirt and making to drag him downstairs.

Honestly, I shouldn't have said it, and I know it. But I just couldn't stop myself from adding, "Good boy."

It was just a joke. I didn't mean anything affectionate or anything. Steve turned around and gave me the nastiest look I'd never seen on his face before storming away angrily. I chuckled inwardly however; I guess he'd learnt his lesson to not be so disrespectful.

If he needed reminding during school, I'd probably do it again. Like Ponyboy said: we're like brothers.

 **XXX**

School wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The only class I didn't particularly enjoy was math class.

That was Darry's fault.

I love my big brother a lot. But my big brother as a teacher…that's a different story.

 **AN: I didn't want the chapter to go on so I'm sorry that ending's quite short! I hope it wasn't (too) unrealistic either :) I would have updated sooner but I was away for most of last week; I actually went away the day after the story was published! I've been working on it the last few nights but I've just been a little busy XD Hope ya'll enjoyed! Thanks for everybody who has favorited, followed and reviewed this story; I can't thank you all enough! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)  
Date: March 17th 2016**

"You lied, Curly. You promised to do homework with me and you didn't," I groaned, finishing the last of my English homework. I still had math to do (which had been set my big brother and it was in for the next day) but I really couldn't be bothered doing any more.

Curly rolled the red lollipop in his mouth. "I _never_ do homework," he grinned. I sighed; this was Curly we were talking about – I should have known better. And he wasn't even in any of my classes, since I was more 'skilled' than he was at academic stuff.

"I can't believe Darry's your teacher, man. I mean, bein' in his gang is tuff, but bein' his class is just…I know I'd die if Tim were ma teacher," my friend laughed, his curly tufts of hair flopping onto his forehead as he tipped his head.

"Shut up, clone!" Tim yelled from his room. When he wasn't in-front of his gang, I realized he limited how many cuss words he yelled at his brother. Though Curly seemed offended that Tim had referred to him as a 'clone'.

Still, he didn't yell anything back; he knew better. For as dumb as he looked, he used his head…unlike me.

I remembered at that moment that Darry had told me to go straight home from school, since he needed to talk to me about some things. I knew teachers left school earlier than the students, but now I knew I was screwed; it was nearing 6 pm.

"Ugh…" I grumbled in annoyance. Curly raised his eyebrows at me. "Just remembered that Darry wants me home. I'll havta go," I sighed.

Curly smirked. "Oh yeah…Darry don't want his little brother out with the big boys, is that it?"

I glared at him; he knew that wasn't the real reason, and I knew he knew that, but these little comments always angered me. However, being the 'smart boy' that I am, I just rolled my eyes and left. To say Curly was shocked was an understatement; I usually fought with him.

My big brothers plus Steve were sitting at the table, eating dinner, when I got back. Johnny was sprawled out on the couch with a black eye and appeared to be sleeping, and Two-Bit and Dally were nowhere to be seen.

"Nice for you to join us, Ponyboy," Darry called, clearly agitated.

I tossed my backpack on the floor and washed my hands; now was not a good time. I knew this because I was tired from doing all the homework (with Curly screaming at me in the background –don't ask why- which distracted me), and knew that if my brother said something to me I'd probably end up mouthing off to him.

Pulling out the vacant chair and sitting down it, I didn't make eye contact with anyone, though I could feel everyone's eyes on me.

"Where were you, Ponyboy?" Darry asked calmly, placing his utensils down on his plate.

"Curly's; we were doing homework," I answered, not looking up.

I heard Darry nod. "Well, you're grounded for the night." My head shot up then. "I told you to come straight home and you didn't; that's disobedience on your part and I won't tolerate it."

My jaw clenched as I shoved my plate away. Darry had been at school for _one_ day, and already he was acting like a total jerk – at school _and_ at home! He embarrassed me in-front of the whole class and now he was restricting my freedom, plus it was for _homework_!

"It was for homework, Darry!" I yelled. I think I might have woken up Johnny in the next room. "You're just mad because it was Curly, aren't you?"

Darry shook his head, his features still calm – not tense like they usually are. "No I'm not mad because it was Curly; in-fact I'm not mad at all. I'm simply giving you consequences for your actions: I told you to come straight home from school and you didn't, so now you're paying the price for it."

I growled and stomped my foot hard on the floor, though it hurt quite a bit because I was still sitting down. Without meaning to I winced, and Steve snickered.

"You shut up!" I shouted, pointing a finger at him. This just caused him to grin wickedly at me. Soda was looking around, as if trying to figure out what was going on. Poor guy.

"Ponyboy," Darry said, his voice lower and intimidating this time. "We don't speak to people that way. I saw what he did, but I'll deal with it in future. In the meantime I think you should go sit in your room."

Seriously, I was beyond frustrated now. Darry always hollered at me when I mouthed off to him; yet now he was being firm yet calm at the same time without making me feel like crying. Well, I did feel like crying now, but it was out of annoyance more than anything.

Getting up and shoving my chair under the table, I stomped away from the table and grabbed my backpack to finish off the rest of my homework. I slammed the door loudly, and I knew that Johnny was definitely awake by now, as he said: "Is Pony okay?"

No, I wasn't. Darry was annoying me without having to yell at me or anything, and I suppose you'd call it childish – I guess I seemed to be acting out for attention, but I really wasn't. But why did Darry's new job affect him so much.

Screw homework, I thought to myself. It was only math anyway. And even though it was due for tomorrow, I knew Darry would probably check up on me to make sure it was done. I smirked to myself; my backpack was in my room, and since I was so upset and felt the need to lock myself in, Darry wouldn't be able to get to me. And that meant he didn't know if I'd done my homework or not.

He'd embarrassed me today in class. Well, I'd embarrass him: it wouldn't look good if I didn't give Darry my homework, being his _brother_ and all. I grinned; this would be fun.

 **XXX**

Steve, Sodapop and I finished our dinner without any disruptions. Maybe I was a little hard with Pony, I don't know, but I _do_ know he acted way out of line at the dinner table. If one of us had spoken to mom like that, dad would have grounded us for a month, along with extra chores, and might have even washed our mouths out. Vice versa I supposed, though mom had always been softer than dad.

I didn't expect Soda to stick up for me; Ponyboy was his brother while I acted like their guardian, but I know he knew I was in the right, because he didn't say anything to defend Pony either.

My own attitude surprised me though too, I guess. I know I holler at Pony way too much but I usually can't help it. I just want to make him into a better person, and I guess I realize that yelling doesn't really help at all. But then again, Pony's little fit showed me that no matter how calm I am, he'll still fight back. He's that sort of stubborn. And I guess I loved him for it.

Annette had told me how she dealt with Joey at home if he got out of line. She said she'd take his toys away and not give him any desert if he argued with her about a grounding (and she seemed to ground him for the silliest reasons, but it wasn't my place to judge). However, Pony didn't own many toys and he didn't play with the ones he owned, and also our breakfast _was_ desert so I'd technically be starving him.

Though since I was such a kind big brother, I decided to let this one go. Though I wouldn't let my kid brother get off so easy next time. And the next day at school when he was in my class, I sure was mad I hadn't dealt with it right away.

 **AN: This chapter is shorter than the others, but I've been having some writer's block and feel bad for not updating this story. It goes for all of my other stories too. Also, I've got my mock exams coming up soon, so the teachers have been giving us tests and stuff…:/ If you guys could shoot some ideas I'd really appreciate it –for any of my stories- and be as creative as you want XD  
Pony's little plan was inspired by a review from Ponygirlrunner25 (you really have good ideas! :D).  
Happy 52** **nd** **birthday to Rob Lowe too! –Another reason why I wanted to update the chapter today!- You'll forever be Sodapop in my mind and heart, but you'll always be Rob in my heart too! XD :)  
Thanks to everybody who has favorited, followed and reviewed this story so far; I can't thank you all enough :)**


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